In 2013, I was working at Upwork's global headquarters in Silicon Valley as a Product Architect. I was working closely with the CTO on a migration toward a service-oriented architecture (SOA), collaborating with the core engineering team in the Valley while also managing a distributed global engineering team.
Around that time, my mother passed away from cancer.
That changed everything.
I decided to relocate to Bangkok, Thailand to be closer to my father. Shortly after that, I left Upwork.
Not long after, I founded a software development agency. Over time, I grew it to around 70 employees at its peak.
From the outside, that probably looked like success.
On the inside, it felt very different.
Most of my time was spent on sales meetings, presentations, hiring, finances, people issues, and project management — with only the occasional chance to do what I actually loved: building systems, doing architecture, working through hard technical problems, and helping people level up.
It was an incredible learning experience.
It was also heavy.
The pressure of making payroll for 70 people was constant. The pressure of keeping everyone busy, motivated, and aligned never really stopped. I was putting out fires nonstop. At the same time, some of the other shareholders and I increasingly disagreed about the direction of the company.
Eventually I realized: this wasn't working for me.
I missed building. I missed small teams. I missed being close to the work.
So I and another majority shareholder sold our shares and left.
After leaving, I was… lost
When I left, I didn't immediately feel relieved.
I felt disoriented.
I had spent years building something, and suddenly I had stepped away from it. I didn't want to go back into corporate. I didn't want to climb another ladder. I didn't want steering committee meetings, internal politics, or endless alignment sessions.
But I also had to earn a living.
So I had a lot of time to think.
I spent my days reading, watching YouTube, scrolling through blogs and social media — not strategically at first, but because I genuinely didn't know what I wanted to do next.
That's when I started seeing content from people calling themselves "solopreneurs" or "solo consultants."
And I remember thinking:
Huh… maybe I could do that.
I liked the idea of controlling my own hours.
Choosing the kinds of problems I work on.
Choosing the kinds of clients and organizations I engage with.
Being responsible for my own outcomes — but also free from other people's agendas.
I liked the idea of being in control of my own destiny again.
Discovering a different model
Around that time, I found Jonathan Stark and his Ditching Hourly work.
His story felt uncomfortably familiar.
He talked about pricing, independence, and especially about the importance of having a niche. Not a broad market — a narrow one. A very specific one.
At first, I was skeptical.
My entire career had been built on being broad: systems, infrastructure, code, architecture, teams, operations. The previous firms I'd built were generalist by design. My instinct had always been: the wider the funnel, the easier it is to sell.
But after listening to enough of Jonathan and his guests, I decided to try it.
So I started looking for a niche.
The path that led me to Monday.com
My first idea was Salesforce.
I started working through Trailhead, collecting badges, and preparing for certifications. I thought: I'll start as a solo Salesforce consultant and maybe grow from there.
At the same time, I applied to Toptal — partly out of curiosity. I passed their screening and joined their network.
And then, almost by accident, I came across Monday.com.
Specifically, Monday Sales CRM.
I signed up, played with it, and quickly noticed the limitations of the out-of-the-box CRM templates. But I also noticed something else: the GraphQL API.
That changed how I saw the product.
With the API, Monday stopped being "a tool" and became a platform. A platform you could extend. A platform you could bend.
Then I discovered Make.com.
Suddenly I had this stack where I could:
- Model workflows visually
- Integrate almost anything
- Automate across systems
- Extend with custom code when necessary
- And do it all fast.
In about two weeks, I had built a CRM that covered roughly 90% of what I had previously built in a full-blown Salesforce implementation.
That was the moment it clicked.
Salesforce was saturated. Monday wasn't.
And Monday was… fun.
So I chose that niche.
Fast forward a few years
By 2024, I was making more money solo than I ever did running a 70-person firm.
I charge between $125–$200/hour, and over time I've crossed $1M in total consulting revenue working with:
- A top-5 chemical distribution company in the US
- A fulfillment company in the EU
- Real estate brokerages and developers
- Law firms, architecture firms, insurance companies
- Restaurants, software companies, and other consultancies
Not because I'm smarter than I was before.
But because the structure was different.
The part people don't see
None of this was easy.
It was one of the hardest things I've done.
I walked away from status, from security, from something I had built — and had to start again from scratch.
I had no brand.
No pipeline.
No safety net.
But I also had no ceiling.
There was nowhere to go but up.
And this time, I was building something that fit me.